Consider this paragraph from Don Johnson’s written reply to a question he was asked during the selection process.

“A key to understanding how to improve government efficiency is to realize that in spite of the lofty goals and high ideals that brought us to public service what we really do is not very different from the work performed in the private sector. We do produce products. We really do make widgets. Our widget may be a report, an inspection, an arrest, a meal, a class, or any of the myriad of services we provide but we do produce tangible, measurable things and we can produce them better, faster and cheaper.”

Don Johnson talks like a manager, to a management consultant who has repeatedly found that successful organizations have one way or another solved problems dealing with People and Procedures. Without diminishing his focus on budget issues during this conversation and in written material from his participation in the screening process before being selected as city manager, Don went beyond his Director of Finance mindset as we agreed and disagreed about diverse matters.

As one example of the need for Rules of Procedure, he mentions the matter of individual commissioners requesting additions after the formal agenda has already been completed, sometimes even after it has been published on the city’s website. “Sometimes, one commissioner wants an addition about which his colleagues have no interest. Or, one requests a report the others see no need for.” Without revealing his specific approach to creating this rule, Johnson found the occasion to mention that some cities require individual requests to be voted on by the commission or council before being acted upon.

One step in that direction is that he distributes to CITCOM the “Agenda Memo” which is the internal working document Staff uses to generate a current agenda, a near-term future agenda, and a working list of possible topics for further-away agendas.

Operating with the philosophy that “It is usually the Manager’s fault when the Commission starts micromanaging,” Don maintains the Staff should provide enough information and context to enable the commissioners to vote intelligently after asking a handful of clarifying questions. Although coming up with the 2009-2010 Budget was a long process, the former finance director cites it as an example of successful application of the philosophy.

I recalled that the first step was his making the financial reports themselves understandable, and he commented that the previous budgets were essentially a list of line items with no explanatory text. “So, commissioners too often ended up discussing the price of paperclips.” Interestingly, one of the written tests during the screening process for city manager called for financial and budget recommendations, limited to three pages. In his reply, Johnson humorously reminded the commissioners that it took 236 pages the last time he answered that question.

We touched a bit more on future budget considerations which will be forthcoming. About that and in general Don contends, “It is important that the City Manager and the City Commission be willing to accept that some ideas will fail and not punish those responsible for the idea. The only people who have no failures are those who always play it safe and try nothing new.”

About the conduct of commission meetings, Don disagrees with my contention that Mayor Jim Ellison is too nice and isn’t quick enough to pound the gavel and stop blather. Even after I mentioned that one commissioner complains of the mayor that “he doesn’t stop us from going on and on,” the new city manager maintains, “Royal Oak’s commission meetings are better run than those of other municipalities I’ve observed.”

He didn’t react to my suggestion that speakers be limited to three minutes, rather than five, but he commented, “As aggravating as Public Comment occasionally becomes, our Commission conducts it firmly and effectively. Some cities lose control by permitting the public to participate during debate of any agenda item.”

Johnson believes in the separation of powers between the Commission and the Administration, but we disagreed sharply over an example of confusion about those powers. I maintain that the City Commission reacted inappropriately by criticizing former Police Chief Ted Quisenberry after, within the budget the commissioners had approved, he made some personnel changes. In this case, the fact that the commissioners first learned of a major staffing change from the School District upset them. Don maintains that the commission should have been notified first. “Commissioners rightly expect to be the first to know about such matters.  They hate surprises.”

I rebutted that notifying them is the same as seeking their approval. Should the commission’s permission be sought each time the Chief might want to rearrange the frequency or location of patrolling? Don says that providing information is not the same thing as seeking approval. We left it there.

Once again tying Procedures and People, we discussed Johnson’s approach to working with Staff. To begin with, there are two types of regular staff meetings at City Hall: one with all department heads and deputy department heads and one with senior department heads only. The former, called the “staff meeting”, is held on the Tuesday morning following a commission meeting; the latter, called the “agenda meeting,” is held on Tuesday. On the day after a CITCOM meeting, the two meetings are held back-to-back.

One of the tasks of these meetings is to develop the series of agendas mentioned above. Then there are the usual exchanges of information and assignments to keep everyone in the loop.

When it comes time for a departmental report to be presented at a commission meeting – whether the report was staff-generated or commission-requested – the procedure will be  for the city manager to introduce the pertinent department head and, perhaps, to add a comment or two, “but not to give a speech. I don’t want to steal the thunder from the department head who prepared the report.”

That fits in well with the consensus that, “The City Commission’s role is to establish policy. The City Manager’s role is to carry out that policy.” Johnson also repeats the mantra that the mayor, not the city manager, should be the face of the city. In that context, he maintains the manager should work “behind the scenes.”

In a reply to another of the written pre-interview questions, Johnson said, “I don’t need to establish credibility with the administrative staff. I already have it,” when asked what his approach would be to establishing credibility and motivating employees. Labeling himself a “Theory Y” manager (workers are pretty much responsible self-starters), he acknowledges that Royal Oak may have some “Theory X” workers (people who dislike work and will avoid it whenever possible) but not among the department heads or deputies. He drew a bit of static when somewhere he suggested that management is less difficult when there are no unions. Johnson was merely describing reality, not condemning unionism.

Context: For decades my management consulting practice included managing an association of 100 unionized mechanical contractors for whom I conducted collective bargaining at the same time that most of my other clients were open shop. It was not anti-union at all to recognize that such management practices as cross-training and promotion by performance, rather than seniority, are easier to implement in the open shop arena.

Along with the interviews and written reports, the top five candidates were required to take the General Management In-Basket test.  This test is the most widely used management assessment exercise in the United States.  Johnson surprised everyone, including himself, by scoring in the top 1% of the more than 20,000 managers who have taken this test.

I have previously commented that Don Johnson is soft-spoken to a fault. Such gentleness is often mistaken for weakness. But a weak leader does not reply, “The question significantly understates the problem,” when asked a budget-related question.

Or, “We cannot simply cut all other services and devote all resources to police and fire,” to protect public safety.

Or, “I would recommend we take a very serious look at replacing the property tax with a municipal income tax.”

Or, “The staff feels unappreciated by the elected officials.”

Serious city hall observers will want to compare this conversation with Johnson to that with former City Manager Hoover, which was held about 14 months after Hoover arrived in Royal Oak. Don is only weeks old as city manager, but has been Director of Finance for five years, so he’s not a newbie. -- 10 Aug 09

Mini-Bio

Johnson, 57, grew up in Watervliet, a small town of less than 2,000 people in southwestern Michigan.  He is a graduate of Watervliet High School, Oakland University (BA) and Cornell University (MPA).  He is a divorced father of two. His son, Michael is 26, a graduate of Grand Valley State University, and is employed by Trinity Health.  Daughter Kimberly is 23 and a student at the University of Michigan.  Don currently lives in Wayne but is actively searching for a Royal Oak residence.